Originally published: January 10, 2013

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

As soon as the Pathfinder descended the hill to the lake, I knew I was in trouble. I could feel the SUV sinking into the deep snow, which was now roughly 30 centimeters deep. I was looking to take some scenic photos, and my neighbour’s boat launch at the cottage, surrounded by white pines, seemed the ideal spot.

But heading down the hill, with a steep drop to the lake on one side and a rock face on the other of this narrow path, I knew getting out would be tough. Oh, what the heck: this was why I borrowed a 2013 Pathfinder SL from Nissan Canada for eight weeks — to see if the all-new Pathfinder still had the “right stuff.”

After taking pictures, I aimed the $41,000 Pathfinder toward the hill, roughly 300 metres long, angled with a grade of about 30 degrees. Just then a local teenager squirmed his way down the hill on his Yamaha ATV.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” said the earnest young man named Taylor, “but my first thought when I saw the tire tracks was, ‘Who’s the idiot who went down there?’” With the genuine earnestness of people who live in the country, he kindly said he’d stick around in case I couldn’t get out. Now I was faced with two tasks: getting the Pathfinder up the hill without crashing it into the lake or rocks, and trying to avoid the embarrassment of a city slicker needing a tow. The temperature was -8C and falling and it was getting dark.

The Pathfinder’s locking 4×4 system is, however, a valuable feature in these kinds of situations. Many limited slip AWD drive systems would not have gotten down this hill, let alone get back up. So I locked the system, shut off the traction control and put the truck’s CVT transmission in low and stepped on the gas. I made it half way up the hill before the four wheels began to spin wildly without moving the Pathfinder ahead. I tried this again and again, each time gaining only a precious few metres. On the sixth try, I was ready to concede defeat and accept Taylor’s help. I even looked for a front tow hook in which to place his winch hook, but was surprised not to see any latching points. There is a hook that can be screwed into the front bumper, but I decided it was too much of hassle and should instead storm the hill one last time.

On the seventh push, the Pathfinder — spinning all four tires wildly, throwing snow into the air like confetti — moved further ahead than before. Suddenly I had crested the steepest part and was now ambling slowly forward. Seconds later, I was free of the hill and safely on my plowed laneway. “That’s amazing,” said Taylor. “My 4×4 would not have done that.”

To be honest, I was surprised the Pathfinder did that too. The Pathfinder’s 6.5 inches of ground clearance is not what it used to be. It’s no longer a truck-based SUV like a Toyota 4Runner or Jeep, the kind of SUV that would easily knock off this challenge. But the Pathfinder did it anyway, proving a pivotal point that it’s not just a mall crawler after all.

Now in week two of this long-term test, the Pathfinder continues to impress me not just in what in can do in the woods, but how well it does so much else. Unlike other long-term tests, I have yet to find anything that annoys me about this truck. No, not true: the Bluetooth phone system will not display my entire phonebook so I can scroll through the listings looking for the right person. While it does have a voice command that might be the first I’ve ever used to accurately select the right function most of the time, I also prefer a more robust manual system.

Other than that, I’m so far hard pressed to find genuine fault with the new Pathfinder. The heated leather seats are comfortable, the heated leather steering wheel an absolute delight. The instrumentation and controls are easy, navigable and clear. Rear seat room is ample, the build quality seems very good, the ride comfortable without being too soft. The 260 horsepower V6 feels strong enough. Even the CVT transmission — something I thought I would hate — is eminently easy to live with, shifting not with the slow, elastic, high-pitched drone that we’ve come to expect of continuously variable transmissions, but almost like a regular automatic. My wife couldn’t detect the difference.

Fuel consumption so far has ranged from an average combined city and highway high of 15.3 L/100 km, to a low combined average of 12.2, with the best highway rating so far at 10.2, though the weather has been extremely cold and I’m guilty of too much idling. The official rating is 10.8 L/100 km city and 7.9 highway.

Join us again next week as we continue our adventures with the 2013 Pathfinder.